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Restaurant owner Nam Kim and son, Jason, 31, make food to feed emergency personnel at Mile High Cafe during the Cranston fire burning near Idyllwild on Thursday, July 26, 2018. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

An errant GPS signal and a night spent in a snowy mountain community more than a decade ago led an Orange County woman to pull up roots and begin a new life in Idyllwild.

As the Cranston fire forced many in the San Jacinto Mountains to evacuate Thursday, July 26, Nam Kim, owner of the Mile High Cafe, and her family were serving burgers — at no charge — to anyone who walked through the door.

“I was going to Palm Springs but my GPS sent me the wrong way,” said the bright and cheerful Kim Thursday as she fed a steady stream of firefighters, Idyllwild residents and reporters while the Cranston fire continued to burn.

“I ended up on this road and I didn’t know where I was,” she said placing glass bottles filled with water in tubs of ice. “There was snow on the ground and I was scared to death. I was in a Mercedes Benz. That is not good for snow.”

It was dark along the mountain road when she finally found a place to stay for the night, the Quiet Creek Inn in Idyllwild.

“When I woke up it was a blanket of white snow,” she said of that 2003 winter day. “It was so beautiful. I never seen anything like that.”

Kim decided to explore her surroundings when half a mile from the inn she stumbled upon some property for sale.

“It was a restaurant with an empty lot and a house,” Kim said. “That day, I decided to buy.”

With no restaurant experience, the former piano teacher who once owned a landscaping company in Orange County, jumped into the restaurant business feet first.

“She is really amazing,” said her daugher-in-law Grace Hahn who recently moved to Idyllwild with her husband, Jason Park, to help run the eatery, which locals call Nam’s Place or Nam’s Cafe.

The restaurant’s menu is a mix of traditional American fare like burgers, salads and sandwiches and Asian food including udon, fried rice dishes and bibimbop.

“We have to have Asian food otherwise my husband and I couldn’t live here,” joked Hahn.

The family business was one of a handful in the mountain town that remained open to provide service to firefighters and residents.

Kim’s strength and pioneering spirit has gained her a reputation in the community winning over many of the locals with her can-do spirit.

“It’s wonderful I love it. She’s definitely a very strong-willed woman,” said Ashley Larson, 31, one of Kim’s employees.

The family’s homes were spared during the fire and felt they needed to give back.

“We’ll be here until the food runs out,” said Hahn.

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Beatriz E. Valenzuela is an award-winning journalist who’s covered breaking news in Southern California since 2006 and has been on the front lines of several national and international news events. She’s worked for media outlets serving Southern California readers covering education, local government, entertainment and all things nerd including comic book culture and video games. She’s an amateur obstacle course racer, constant fact-checker, mother of three and lover of all things adorable.